Chapters in our Lives
by bearbaitbrook
Summary: A series of Missing Moments taking place throughout the Harry Potter series. Hr/R mostly, with H/G included. T just to be safe.
1. Shell Cottage Part I

**I decided to write another story, with different missing moments throughout the Harry Potter series. It's going to be mostly Ron/Hermione, but I'm going to try to include some Ginny/Harry too, maybe something about Neville. My other story, The Way We Live Now, is my top priority, so this will not be regularly updated. Also, this isn't going to be in chronological order. It's sporadic. I will make sure to include where and when the moment is taking place in each chapter. **

**This is the first chapter, taking place at Shell Cottage, after the encounter at the Malfoy Manor. I love reviews, hint hint.**

Missing Moments:

Shell Cottage

"Hermione!" Ron shouted the minute they landed on the cool ocean shore. "Hold on!"

He picked up her unconscious, limp body, and carefully walked up the beach, out of the water. Laying her down, he stripped off his sopping sweater, and muttered a drying spell.

Then he glanced over at Hermione. She wasn't breathing. His heart stopped.

"Oh, God! Don't be dead! Wake up!" he said over and over. A memory of her voice suddenly came to his mind- "Are you a wizard or what?"

"Revenerate" he said in a slightly shaking voice. He waited one second, two seconds, three seconds before she took in gaping breath of air.

"Thank god!" he said out loud, gently moving a piece of hair out of her eyes. Then he saw Harry out of the corner of his eye. Looking over, he saw him cradling Dobby's body in his arms. Tears instantly welled in his eyes. They'd owed him so much- including their lives.

"Get help!" Ron's brain began to scream. Again, he cradled Hermione's frail body in his arms, and quickly covered the distance to Shell Cottage.

Bill met him outside. "Harry?"

"On shore."

Bill nodded. "Get her inside" he said, before rushing down to the beach.

Hermione stirred as Ron laid her on the bed in one of the guest bedrooms. He sighed a sigh of relief as her eyes fluttered open.

She looked around confused before weakly asking "Where are we?"

"At Bill and Fleur's. You're safe. How are you feeling?"

"I hurt all over" she admitted, groaning as she tried to sit up.

"Just stay lying down. Until Fleur can look you over- I don't know if anything's broken."  
>Hermione nodded and laid still.<p>

They were quiet for a minute, before Ron cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Dobby's dead, Hermione."

"What!"

"Bellatrix killed him. Threw that bloody knife at him as we were leaving."

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, and let out a sob as Ron patted her back awkwardly.

Ron couldn't help but think to himself that she looked broken. Bruises were scattered over every visible piece of skin, her bushy hair for once was limp, and she had cuts all on her face and throat- including the one that Bellatrix had made with the silver knife. But what was on her arm was even worse- the word "MUDBLOOD" dripped blood.

"What happened?" Fleur asked in her heavy accent as she bustled in.

Ron was silent for a moment. "She was… tortured."

It felt like a knife was stabbing his every time he thought of what had happened to her.

Fleur looked like she wanted to be sick, but she bravely hurried over to Hermione and began examining some of her injuries.

"This will take a while" she murmured. Then she handed Ron a tube of bruise remover.

"Why don't you start applying this? I have to get some skele-grow and something to clean her cuts."

She left the room. Ron motioned to Hermione with the crème. "Can I?"

She nodded wearily and he unscrewed the cap. Gently, he applied the cream, watching the bruises covering her face all but disappear. Then the ones on her shoulders, her arms, and her neck.

"Are there more?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"Yes, on my back."

"Do you want Fleur to…"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Help me sit up."

He did as she asked, grimacing as if her were the one in pain as he did so.

She pulled up her shirt, exposing her lower back. It seemed as if the whole area was a bruise.

"Bloody Hell!" Ron exclaimed. "Mione! Why didn't you have me do this one first?"

"Just do it now, Ron" she said.

He finished as Fleur came into the room, carrying a bottle of skele-grow and various healing supplies. She poured a very small amount of the bone healing potion into a glass and gave it to Hermione, who choked it down.

"Just in case anything's broken" Fleur said.

She grabbed a bowl, and another bottle of potion. "I need to clean… that." Fleur pointed at the horrendous slur on Hermione's arm. "This is going to sting."

She positioned Hermione's arm over the bowl, and began pouring the disinfecting solution over the fleshy engraving.

With her good arm, Hermione frantically grabbed Ron's hand and gripped it tightly, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.

Ron could barely feel his fingers, but he didn't care. Anything to help alleviate the pain she had been in, the pain she was in.

Finally, Fleur finished, and began dabbing dittany on the wounds. The cuts closed, but the words remained in the form of a pale pink scar.

"All I can do now is tell you to rest" she said as she stood up. "Out Ron. Let Hermione rest."

"But" he protested.

"Ron, I'm fine. Go help Harry. Come get me for the funeral I want to be there."

"Okay." He looked at her a moment longer, and then walked out, followed by Fleur.  
>Before she left, Fleur looked at Hermione again, said "try to rest" and closed the door behind her.<p>

Hermione tossed and turned for a time, but try as she might, she couldn't come to a state that resembled sleep in the slightest. Sighing, she stood up on weak legs. There was a mirror on the closet door, which she walked over to, wanting to take stock of the damage.

The bruises on her face were beginning to disappear, but were not completely gone. The scarlet cut on her throat contrasted deeply with the ghostly white of her skin, as did "MUDBLOOD" on her arm. She tugged down on her sleeve, trying to hide the words, but it wasn't long enough. A sob rose in her throat. Was she to be ever branded- ever reminded- of what that horrible woman did, and the sickening values she upheld?

Tears cascaded down her face at her realization of this.

Someone knocked at the door, and walked into the room. Through the mirror, she saw it was Ron. Hastily, she wiped her eyes on her sleeves, but not quickly enough for him to not notice her tears.

"Hermione" he said softly, coming forward and embracing her.

Again, she couldn't hold back the tears that welled in her eyes, and she let them flow.

"I was so scared, Ron. I thought I was going to die, or that something would happen to you or Harry."

"I know" he said, rubbing circles into her back, hesitantly at first, but then a slow rhythm.

"I was scared too, Mione. More scared than I'd ever been in my life."

"I could hear you calling my name."

"I was?" Ron asked, looking down into her chocolate eyes.

"Yeah. Don't you remember?"

"All I remember was thinking 'we've got to get out of this cellar and up to Mione'. Nothing else registered."

"Well, you were."

They stood silently, her still grabbing onto his t-shirt as she cried, he still rubbing her back methodically.

Finally, he pulled away. "Harry's ready for Dobby's funeral. You still want to go?"

"Yes" Hermione said, wiping the tears off of her face with a sleeve. "Go on. I'll be out in a minute."

He left the room. Spotting a dressing gown in the slightly open bureau, she pulled it on, hoping that it would cover the cuts on her neck and arm. It did.

She slowly, but steadily walked out of the room. The rest of the group was waiting for her at the door.

"You sure, Hermione?" Fleur asked, concern evident in her eyes. Hermione nodded, and set off down the stone pathway.

But by the time she'd hiked the quarter mile to the grassy knoll where Harry was burying Dobby, she was beginning to tire. She felt tremors begin to break out through her body when she was a few feet away from Harry and Ron. Ron saw and planted a hand securely around her waist when she made it to him.

A burst of energy suddenly flowed through her.

"Alright?" Ron asked, worry evident in his voice."

"Fine" she answered, ever aware of the warm hand helping to keep her upright.

She watched as Luna walked solemnly up to the little elf and gently slid his eyes closed with her fingers. _"There. Now he could be sleeping."_

Harry gently placed Dobby in the shallow hole that was his grave. Again, Luna spoke up. _"I think we ought to say something. I'll go first, shall I?"_

Hermione barely heard her speech to the elf as she thought about all she wished to say.

The thoughts spilled over in her head, and yet she was unable to voice them. "Dobby" she wanted to say "I know I didn't know you very well. But the times I did meet you were truly an honor. You were the inspiration for SPEW, and will always be the inspiration as I help free others just like you. Thank you for giving me a chance to do that, for getting Ron and Harry and everyone else out of the cellar. And for helping save me. I wouldn't be here today without you. I'm sorry you had to die, but I can promise you, it won't be in vain."

Not a word of that speech came out of her mouth. All she could do was hope that wherever Dobby was, he heard her thoughts and understood.

The others were beginning to head back up to the house. She turned to follow them, Ron right behind her, leaving Harry to mourn the elf in solitude.

Ron and Hermione entered the sitting room, and sat there alone, grateful that Bill and Fleur had ushered the others into the kitchen. They could see Harry from the window.

"That was… tough" Ron said after a time. Hermione nodded, and semiconsciously began rubbing the pink scars on her arm.

"Will you stop?" Ron snapped at her.

"Stop what, Ron?" she asked defensively.

"Rubbing that horrible scar! It's bad enough to know that you even have it, but every time you touch it, it's just a reminder!"

"A reminder of what!"

"That I couldn't keep you safe! That I wasn't strong enough to keep the snatchers away! That I couldn't keep Bellatrix away from you! That I was locked in that cellar and couldn't get to you! That I had to listen to you screaming and wasn't able to do anything to stop it!"

She gently placed her hands on his to stop him, and pulled him up from his chair.

Her heart thudded as her eyes trained onto his lips. His head was coming closer and closer to hers. Her eyes slid shut, and then…

"I'll need you two as well" Harry called.

They jumped apart. Ron dropped her hand and backed away, before beckoning her ahead of him up the stairs, both of their faces lit up in a scarlet blush.


	2. In the Chamber of Secrets

**Another chapter- I was really excited to write this scene, and I knew exactly how I wanted it to be. I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out. It has some of the movie elements in it, but not all of this scene is based on the book or the movie. Most of it comes from my imagination.**

**Read and review!**

Missing Moments:

In the Chamber of Secrets

"Go on Hermione, stab it!" Ron said, motioning at her to go ahead with his hands. She stared at the small golden object lying at her feet on the cold, damp floor and thought back to twenty minutes earlier when Ron had suggested they come here, to the Chamber of Secrets.

* * *

><p>"Let's go, Luna" Hermione heard Harry say. She didn't watch him go, though. She was too occupied watching people pour in through the portrait hole. Ron's eyes followed her, watching her every move.<p>

A tall, blonde boy approached her, a hint of a swagger in his walk. "McLaggen" Ron thought grimly.

"Say, Granger" he heard him say to her. "What would you say to a…"

Ron didn't want to hear the rest of his sentence. He rushed over to Hermione and tapped her shoulder. "I have an idea. Come on!"

She nodded, and followed him out of the Room of Requirement, not looking back even once.

He hadn't had a plan. He'd just wanted to get her away from that scumbag, McLaggen.

But his feet, or a higher power, one of the two, did. He found himself leading Hermione to the bathroom they'd frequented often in their second year.

"Why are you here?" Myrtle moped.

"Yes, why are we here, Ron?"

"We need to destroy the horcrux…"

"Right."

"And what is the only place you know of that has a supply of Basilisk teeth in a dead Basilisk?"

Hermione's face lit up for a moment, and quickly fell.

"Brilliant as this it" Hermione started "you have to…"

"Use Parseltongue to get in. Just thought of that. I guess I could try…"

"Go on!" she said encouragingly.

He made some hissing noises, but nothing. He tried a second time, and then a third time. Still, nothing happened.

"Okay- plan B?" he asked weakly.

"Keep trying while I think."

The next hiss did it. With a clank and a bang, the sinks began to move, revealing a dark hole in the floor.

"Well done!" Hermione praised. "We should…" she said, peering over the hole about ready to jump into it.

"Wait! We need a way to get out of there! We had Fawkes the last time we were down here!"

"Accio broom!" Hermione shouted as a broomstick came hurtling out at them from around the corner.

"Ummm… so we just jump?" she asked, sounding more and more nervous by the minute.

"Yep. Why? You afraid of heights?'

"Why else did you think I've never been up on a broomstick?"

Ron sat down at the edge of the gaping hole in the floor, and patted a spot next to him. She sat down, jerking a little as he took her hand. "It's just a big slide, Mione. But we'll go together, okay?"

She nodded and grabbed onto the broomstick with her free hand.

"Ready? One, Two, Three!"

Together, they dropped into the hole. Hermione let out a scream as her body propelled down, stopping only when she felt her feet securely on the ground again.

She heard bones crunch as she moved. "That's disgusting" she muttered, brushing off the seat of her pants, where they'd made contact with the Chamber slide.

"Just like I remember it" Ron said. "Over here" he said, pointing to a rock wall with a small hole in it "is where Lockhart lost his memory."

"So you haven't been any further in?"

"Well, no. But Harry told me what it was like after this. It's a straight passage into the actual Chamber. So, let's go!"

He levitated a few rocks out of the wall, enlarging the hole slightly, before climbing through it. "Come on, Mione." He stuck his hands through the hole, intending to help her through, but she shot him a look that made him quickly pull them back through.

As soon as his hands had been removed, she clambered through the hole with the ease of a gymnast.

"Bloody Hell!" she exclaimed, seeing the colossal snake skin for the first time. She quickly jumped behind Ron.

"I can't believe it hasn't disintegrated!" he mused.

"Not a lot of air down here" Hermione told him "It's been, in a way, petrified. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Yeah" he answered, before continuing down the passage way. She followed, both keeping their distance from the skin, as if they were afraid of it coming back to life.

They finally came to another door, engraved with lifelike snakes.

"Bloody hell! Parseltongue again?" Ron muttered dejectedly. He began hissing to the door.

A couple tries later, Ron and Hermione stood at the start of the dark, dank chamber. The skeleton of the large snake, now a pile of bones, lay in the far corner.

"Creepy" Hermione said with a shudder. "This whole place is just eerie!"

"I know" Ron replied, grasping her shoulder for a moment. "Come on. The sooner we get the fangs, the sooner we can leave."

"Agreed."

They crossed the distance to the snake quickly, trying to ignore the feeling that sunk to the pits of their stomachs.

Ron pulled out his wand, and pointed it at one of the basilisk's many fangs, which detached and flew into his hand. Hermione reached for her bag, and pulled out the small cup of Hufflepuff's.

"We should get rid of it now, while we have the chance."

Ron nodded, and tried handing her the fang. At the same time, she tried handing him the cup.

"You do it, Mione. You got tortured because of it. You should be the one that destroys it."

He handed her the fang, and stepped back a few steps, watching as she laid the cup at her feet.

"It may try to fight back. Don't listen to it, alright?"

Hermione nodded, and looked down at the small golden cup.

"Go on, Mione. Stab it."

* * *

><p>She, slightly trembling, got down on her knees, and raised the fang into the air. She looked at Ron, whose eyes met hers, and understood her need for him to be closer. He moved in front of her, and held the cup securely in place.<p>

"Three."

"Two."

"One" they said together, and Hermione brought the fang down to the cup, striking it hard.

"Hermione Granger!" a high pitched voice screeched.

Ron and Hermione jumped back in surprise. The fang flew into the air, and landed a few feet away.

"Hermione Granger!" the voice repeated. "The girl with all the answers. But if you did know everything, why don't you know that your parents don't love you, feel cut off by your freakiness, would gladly exchange you for a normal daughter? Why don't you know that Mrs. Weasley felt you a hindrance, a nuisance?"

A voice sounding exactly like Mrs. Weasley's rang out. "I already have more children that I can handle. What makes you think that I need one more to watch out for, to feed, to care for, especially one that's a know it all?"

The high pitch returned. "And why don't you know that your 'friends' Ronald and Harry only kept you around to cheat off of you? That they only needed you to get them through school? And to cook for them later. Ron never loved you."

A memory of Ron and Lavender snogging appeared. "This is what he thought of this past year. Not you. Her."

"No!" Hermione whimpered, unable to take her eyes off of the movie before her eyes.

She slid backwards, her hands blindly reaching for the fang. She made contact, and then rushed the cup, slamming the fang through it. Sobs wracked her body.

A shrill scream echoed through the chamber, and the memories disappeared.

Wind whistled through the tunnel, and the water lapping along the sides of the narrow room began to rise, forming a wave.

Ron grabbed her hand, and pulled her into a niche a small ways off, that just fit the two of them. The water wave had reached full height, and was now crashing in their direction.

Hermione looked at Ron, fear evident in her face. "I don't want to die, Ron" she whispered.

"Listen to me" he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We are not going to die. We are going to live, and go back up to the castle, and we are going to fight for a cause that we believe in. It's not all going to end down here." He pulled her into a tight embrace. "I promise!"

They braced themselves, still embracing, just as the icy wave of water pounded over them.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the water receded with a peaceful splashing sound. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, gaping and pushing water off of their dripping faced.

They looked at each other with fierce intensity, their eyes searching for something in the other's face.

Suddenly, Ron tenderly cupped her face with his hands, and brought his lips down to hers. Hermione's eyes slid closed, and she lost herself in the moment she'd been dreaming about for so long.

They pulled away after too short a time, and looked at each other nervously, eyes searching faces again. A grin broke out on Ron's face, and a giggle burst forth from Hermione

"Umm… we should get out of here. Harry's probably looking for us" Ron said, gently moving a piece of Hermione's hair from her face.

"Yes, right!" she replied, snapping out of her dream world and back into reality.

Walking to the snake, she summoned several fangs which she carefully arranged in her arms. Then she turned to the mangled remains of the cup. "How could something so beautiful be so horrible a thing?" she wondered, her thoughts pouring out of her mouth. She picked it up and stuffed it into the beaded bag, so she wouldn't have to look at it.

"None of it was true, what the horcrux said" Ron said from somewhere behind her."

Hermione was quiet for a second before replying "I know. Let's go."

Ron nodded. They'd left the broomstick back at the rockslide at the entrance. Hermione handed Ron several of the fangs she carried, and together they set off.

Soon they reached the broomstick. "Right" Ron said. "So I'll get on in front, get on behind me. Say, do you have something we could put the fangs in, until we get back up top? I really don't want to get stabbed by one."

"No- the fangs would rip whatever I put them in, anyway."

"Umm… okay… let me think. You can get on in front and hold as many fangs as you can, and I can hold onto you and steer."

"Al…alright."

She climbed onto the broom, holding six fangs. Ron got on behind her, and reached his arms to the front of the broomstick- they provided the only barrier between Hermione and the open air.

He kicked off hard from the ground; Hermione kept her eyes closed tightly, and thoroughly concentrated on keeping her balance.

"Hermione, you can open your eyes" Ron said a few minutes later. They were back in the bathroom.

"Right. We need to find Harry."

"Yeah, let's go." Ron took a handful of the fangs.

Together, they left the bathroom. As they came closer to the sounds of confusion and battle around them, Ron suddenly stopped and grabbed Hermione's small hand in his.

"Ready?" he asked, gently squeezing it.

"Ready."

She later figured out what he was really asking. He was asking if she was ready for what the future after this night would be like. And she was.


	3. Ronald's Return

**Back again for another Missing Moment. This week's moment takes place after Ron's return- you know, the one after he saved Harry from drowning and then stabbed the locket? Yeah, that one. It's between him and Hermione. Review please and let me know what you think :D**

Missing Moment: After Ron's Return

Hermione was cold. Harry had insisted on taking watch on that bitter cold night, and in turn she insisted that he take her blanket and several of the extra ones with him. Now, as the cold crept into the flimsy canvas tent, she was beginning to regret giving her blanket to Harry. And she would NOT, no matter how cold it got, ask Ron for one of his spares. It would freeze in Hell before she'd do that.

She rummaged around in her bag, dug until she found an oversized sweater, and pulled it on over her pajamas. Then she crossed to the stove, and put on the tea kettle. She hoped that a cup of tea would warm her.

"Mione, what are you doing?" Ron asked groggily, sitting up in his bunk.

She determinedly turned away and ignored him. Seeing that he wasn't getting an answer, he crawled out of bed and stood next to her. "Blimey, it's cold!" he muttered. "Mione, it's freezing. Do you want a blanket or something?"

She glared at him.

"Fine. Have it your way. I'll laugh when you're an icicle." He turned to head back to his bunk, but then turned to face her again. "I didn't mean that. But really, Mione, you're going to freeze if you don't get warm. And this stove's barely giving off any heat."

"Fine. Give me the bloody blanket" she said, daggers filling her voice.

He bounded over to his bed, and pulled his spare blanket from the bottom of it.

She took it and wrapped herself in it. But she still couldn't get warm, couldn't stop her teeth from chattering, her body from shivering violently.

"Don't hate me for doing this" Ron said. Before Hermione could ask what 'this' was, Ron had wrapped his arms around her, spreading his body heat to her.

Tense at first, she gradually began to relax as she warmed.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked quietly.

"Yes- you walked out on us- on me, Ron! How could I not be mad at you?"

"I fixed it! I came back, and saved Harry!"

"Do you know how hard it was without you?"

"No" he muttered.

"It was bloody awful! Harry was moody and quiet, and then we went to Godric's Hollow and almost died!"

"Hermione, I'm sorry I left. I really am. I've screwed up a lot of things in my life, but that was definitely the worst."

"Yes it was." She pulled her body away from his warmth and turned her back to him. "I don't think you can match that one."

"What else can I say, Hermione?"

"I don't know- something!" she yelled. "After you left, I… I just felt so alone! And betrayed! I trusted you! I poured out my heart to you over the summer, after I had to send my parents away, and you promised that no matter what happened, you would always be there for me! And then you weren't! The first time things got hard, you left! How was that suppose to make me feel? You just left! And I was worried sick! I had no way of knowing whether you were alive or hurt or…"

"Or dead" Ron finished.

"Yes. How is that suppose to make me feel, Ron? You basically make me think you're dead for over a month, and then you just come back and expect to pick up right how things were left off?" He voice was filled with icy daggers.

"No. I didn't expect to- I guess I acted like I did though, didn't I?"

"Yes, you bloody well did."

"I really did try to come back though. Honestly. I would have come back right away if it wasn't for the snatchers- and by the time I got away from them, I couldn't find you!"

"Maybe it you'd never left in the first place" Hermione snipped from where she stood near the stove, her arms curled around her chest, shivering.

"I was angry, Mione! Can you at least try to think about it from my point of view, at least for a minute? I'm not trying to defend what I did, but just think: I'm the only person here that has a family to be worried about-"

She shot him a hurt look.

"Wait- I just meant that your family's safe in Australia, while mine's here, in the middle of the danger. And so many people in my family have been hurt anyway! And then the bloody horcrux was affecting me so much worse than it did you or Harry, was making me think horrible things. And… and…"

"And what, Ron?" Hermione asked agitatedly.

"Never mind."

"Fine." They sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment.

"Mione? I'm sorry I left. I really am. I just don't know what else you want me to say." Then he got up and walked back to his bunk.

Hermione looked around just as he turned his face to the wall. His blanket laid on the floor where she'd dropped it earlier. Sighing, she retrieved it, wrapping it tightly around herself, and tried to absorb any heat it had left.

Her teeth chattered loudly, and he body shook as she walked to her bunk, next to Ron's, deciding she would try to sleep.

"Hermione, you're freezing. You're not going to sleep until you get warm. And you need sleep- you look exhausted" Ron said as he rolled over to face her in the tent. He could see his breath as he spoke.

"I wonder why?" Hermione muttered under her breath.

Ron lifted his blankets. "It's nice and warm in here with me."

A silent debate raged inside her head, but her survival instincts propelled her to the warmth Ron offered.

"Fine. But this is ONLY because I can't get warm. I'm still mad at you."

"Just get in here and get warm."

Keeping the blanket wrapped firmly around her, Hermione crawled in his bunk next to him. It was blissfully warm.

"Night, Mione" Ron said, rolling over to his side, facing the wall.

As much as she wanted to sleep, she couldn't. He emotional and logical sides of her brain were waging a war.

"Forgive him"

"But he left"

"He's genuinely sorry for it"

"But he can do it again"

"He won't"

"Just forgive him"

Finally, when she was convinced by Ron's even breathing that he was asleep she said softly "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Mione" his soft voice replied.

She reached over and hit him in the arm, trying to ignore the soaring feeling in her stomach. "I'm still mad at you, you know."

"I know. At least you're talking to me in a nice tone, and not screaming at me. It's a start."

"Goodnight Ron."

"Night Mione."

She smiled and then went towards the loving confines of sleep.

Something startled her awake some hours later. Seeing nothing as she looked around the dimly lit tent, she closed her eyes. An instant later, they snapped open again. She had woken up with her arm draped over Ron's chest, and her head was partially laying on his shoulder.

While it wasn't sending the message that she was still angry with him very well, she found that she rather liked the feeling of sleeping in his arms.

So she laid back down, exactly as she had been before, and closed her eyes. Her thoughts raced. But they were calmed when Ron put his arms around her in his sleep, mumbling her name.

"What would I do without you, Ronald Weasley?" she thought as she drifted off to sleep once more. "What would I do without you?"


	4. Shell Cottage Part 2

**Another week, another missing moment. This week's takes place at Shell Cottage, the same night that Part one took place. Let me know what you think! If anyone has any ideas for a moment, please let me know. I have some other stories lined up, but I would love to hear any and all of your ideas :D**

**Keep reading and keep reviewing!**

Missing Moment: Shell Cottage Part 2

"I didn't take it!" Ron heard someone shout from where he lay on the pullout sofa. "Please! I didn't take anything! No!" He clearly recognized Hermione's terrified voice.

He jumped out of bed and raced to the room she shared with Luna. Pushing the door open, he sat down at the edge of her bed. "Mione! Wake up! You're alright! It's me, Hermione. Wake up! It's just a nightmare. You're safe" he repeated, shaking her shoulders. Finally her eyes snapped open, bright with terror.

Ron helped her sit up, and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently as she closed her eyes and wept. He felt her shaking hands claw onto his t-shirt and ball it up in her fists.

"Hey, you're alright" he said again. "You're safe, Mione."

"Promise?" she murmured, her voice thick.

"Yes. Harry and I aren't going to let anything happen to you. Not now, and not ever again. Not while we have breath in our bodies."

After a few more minutes, when Ron noticed Hermione's eyes starting to droop, he pulled the blankets up over her, and got under them next to her.

She tentatively laid her head on his chest, and snuggled into the bed as he wrapped his strong arms around her. She closed her eyes, sighing deeply.

But she couldn't sleep. "Ron?" she asked ten minutes later. "You still awake?"

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just can't sleep."

"I can't either. Weird- we know that we're safe here, and yet I'm always looking over my shoulder, and I don't want to sleep."

"I know. What happened today probably didn't help."

"Probably? I know it didn't help."

"I was trying to put it lightly, Ron. Don't know why- it's not helping."

"What do you think will help?"

"It's almost as if I need to talk about it to someone."

"Talk to me, Hermione."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." He was never more sure of anything in his life. "Just let it out. It's going to help."

"Well, alright. If you're sure."

Ron nodded.

Hermione took a deep breath and then began to speak. "After we got separated, Bellatrix had Greyback drag me to the floor and hold me down while, she well, you know."

She felt him nod and tighten his arms around her.

"That wasn't the bad part though, Ron. Greyback, he… he… threatened to… to rape me" she said in a small quivering voice.

"He didn't right?" His voice shook as he asked the horrible questions.

"No- but I thought he was, I really did. And then Bellatrix was torturing me, and carving that awful word onto my arm. I blacked out for a minute, but they brought me back. I could kind of hear them saying something about it being more fun for them that way. And it just kept happening, and happening and I was trying to think of something to distract me, and I couldn't Ron. It was like my mind had frozen, and the only thing I could do was react to the pain. I didn't know I'd made up a story about the sword until Harry told me. And then it all stopped! I guess they were getting Griphook. It stopped long enough for me to start comprehending what was happening to us."

She grew quiet for a minute. "I didn't think we were all getting out alive. Not the three of us. And then I heard her," she spat the word like a disease, "say that Greyback could have me. And I started thinking of any ways that I could end it before it came to that. Then I heard you. I just knew, when I heard you and Harry coming up the stairs that we were all going to make it. And the rest… you saw all of that."

"I am so sorry Hermione."

"So am I."

"No one should have to go through all of that, Mione. No one."

"Why me, Ron?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I would have taken your spot in a heartbeat if it would have meant you staying safe."

"Ron, would you really do that?"

"Yes, I would. I would do anything to take back what you had to go through. Anything."

"The past is the past. We can't change it. Thanks for letting me talk, Ron. It really helped."

"Good. Whenever you want to talk, I'm here."

"I know you have" she replied. "You always have been."

Ron looked over at the other bed in the room for the first time all night- he'd completely forgotten that Luna was also in the room. Strangely enough, Luna was still asleep.

"Now I have a question. Why is Luna still asleep? We were talking way too loud for her to not wake up."

"Fleur gave her dreamless sleep" Hermione answered. "I didn't want to wake her up if I had nightmares, so I put a silencing charm around her bed. You know how I hate taking dreamless. I get dependent on stuff way to easily, and that stuff scares me."

"I know. I hate the stuff too" Ron replied, as Hermione yawned noisily.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Yeah. I think I can finally sleep" she said. "As long as… can you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be by myself."

"I'll be right here. Sleep. I'm not going to leave- I shouldn't have let you sleep alone tonight in the first place."

"Thanks, Ron. Night" she said, laying her head softly on his chest again, and closing her eyes.

"Sweet dreams" he murmured, gently kissing the top of her head. He couldn't believe he'd just kissed her, at least in a way, but she hadn't noticed- she was already sound asleep.


	5. Talks

**I apologize most profoundly for the long absense. Life's a busy thing at the moment :D This missing moment takes place at the Burrow between Ron and Ginny the summer of the wedding. Remember in the DH how, after Ron catches Ginny and Harry kissing at the Burrow, he tells Harry how she was really cut up when he ended it? I always envisioned a conversation between Ron and Ginny about the breakup. So here it is. Hope you enjoy!  
>Read and Review!<strong>

Missing Moment: Ginny and Ron talk over summer after Ginny/Harry breakup at end of 6th year

Ron stood outside Ginny's bedroom. He had to admit, he was worried about her. When they'd returned to the Burrow for the summer, she had closed the door and come out only for meals, her eyes red and puffy every time. Everyone else in the Weasley family took it as a bad bought of teenage girl hormones. But Ron knew better.

"Harry" he thought. He knew exactly how she felt- about liking a person so much it hurts, and how it feels to not be able to be with them. So it fell to him to talk to her. "Besides" he thought, "Ginny and I have always been the closest."

He flashed back to helping his only sister sneak into the broom closet, teaching her to fly in the years before they entered Hogwarts, helping her play tricks on Percy, watching her face when he let her feed Scabbers, teaching her how to beat him at chess…

He sighed. His little sister was all grown up.

"Ginny?" he asked, softly knocking on the door. He got no answer, so he opened the door, praying that nothing hard or sharp came flying at his head as a "get out" gesture.

Nothing came, so he continued into the dimly lit room and closed the door behind him.

"What do you want?" she asked him darkly, not moving from where she lay on her bed. Even from across the room, Ron could see that she'd been crying.

"If it will make you feel better, I can punch Harry" he told her, going for comic relief as a way of cheering her up.

Ginny glared at him.

"Okay, look. I'm worried about you. You're not normally a moody teenager. As far as the world of girls comes, you're about as normal as they come. You and Hermione…" he added as an afterthought. "So why are you letting yourself get so beat up over one guy?"

"Because I really liked him, Ron! Because whenever I was with him, I felt alive! Because I wanted to be a better person when I was around him! And because of the reasons he ended it! It wasn't because we weren't 'meant to be together' or whatever. It was a legitimate reason! He broke it off because he wanted to "keep me safe". His reasons just made me like him more! Bloody Hell- Ron- I think I might love him!"

"He's just doing it because he cares about you, Ginny. It would literally kill him if something happened to you- especially if it happened to you because of him."

"I know! But it still doesn't make me feel any better about it! How can one person make you feel so much?"

"I don't know" Ron answered earnestly. "But it really blows sometimes, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does. Oh, why could he have a, I don't know, normal life? In my muggle studies class we read this old play called Romeo and Juliet. It feels just like that- that everything in the world is between us."

Ron had heard about the play from Hermione, but only vaguely knew the story. So he pretended to have a clue of what she was talking about, and nodded his head understandingly. "Trust me, I know."

"So you know about the ache that never goes away, too? I physically hurt right now. You know what- you can't punch Harry. Because I am, the minute he walks through our… bloody… door!" She punched her pillow in between words for extra emphasis. Then her face clouded and paled. "He's coming for the wedding!" she moaned. "How am I ever going to survive? I'm going to want to alternate between crying my eyes out, punching him, and snogging him!"

"You'll survive" Ron said. "Mum's going to have us all off in separate corners of the house for wedding prep. And besides- how many years did you like him _before_ you went out? A long time. And you somehow managed to survive. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be, Ginny. Whatever happens is meant to happen. You can't change that…" He said the last part quietly.

"But I don't want it to happen, Ron!" Ginny sobbed. "I just want things to go back to how they were, before Harry had to be the one to save the world, before you and he and Hermione have to fight the war, back to when we were happy- back to when I could curl up in his arms and have our biggest worry be who won the next Quidditch game! What are the chances that he never comes back from what you three are going to do?"

"Wh… what thing?" Ron asked, trying to cover up.

"Don't think I don't know that you are planning something. But I would say that it's something dangerous, which means there's a good possibility of him not coming back! He could die not knowing how much I care for him, not having a girlfriend to cry over him!"

"Ginny, he knows how much you care for him. He doesn't want you to have to deal with the added grief of having a dead boyfriend. I think that he thinks that by ending it with you, it would spare you all of that if something did happen to him."

"I don't care!" she shouted at him. "Since when is all of this his choice? Does my opinion even matter? I don't care if he has a good reason to end it! I just want him!"

"Don't be mad at him Ginny. He's trying to keep you safe. So that when he comes back, you two might have a future together. And if he doesn't come back, he wants you to be able to move on, to be able to live your life."

"Hmph."

"Forgive him- whatever happens happens, remember?"

She sighed and sat up. "It's so hard to stay mad at him. I hate it when you're right."

"Love you too, sis. Now will you come downstairs? The family misses you."

"Fine." She stood up and wiped her eyes.

Ron hugged her briefly. "Feel better?"

"Duh! My favorite brother finally admitted deep down that he loves me! How could I not be happy!"

"Wait- favorite brother?"

"Don't let it go to your head. It's big enough already."

"Got it. But don't count on it."

They smiled, and walked down the stairs together, a bit of a smile etched across Ginny's face.


End file.
